


Romance Is Shit Anyway

by horrormoviesshoes



Category: Arctic Monkeys, Last Shadow Puppets
Genre: AU, Fluff, M/M, One Shot, basically a terrible au filled with clichés
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-20
Updated: 2015-05-20
Packaged: 2018-03-31 11:51:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3977023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/horrormoviesshoes/pseuds/horrormoviesshoes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which our favourite romantic fool isn’t a romantic fool at all… or is he?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Romance Is Shit Anyway

**Author's Note:**

> A one-shot I typed up in my lunchbreak at work. Alex is a nerd for books, Matt isn't. I promise I'll update Curly Fries soon, but until then, I hope you like this!

It was late in the afternoon when Alex Turner and his friend Matt Helders walked out of the cinema. They’d seen the sequel to some action film Matt liked, which of course had the required dose of explosions, faked deaths, pretty, half naked women and way-too-obvious plotlines. (They save the world and get the girl. The end.)

"What'd ye think, Al?" Matt asked, obviously excited.

"I liked it," Alex stated simply, lighting a cigarette.

Alex didn't like it.

But, Matt obviously did, so Alex was fine with telling a little lie. To be honest, he was happy to just spend time with his mate. They didn't see each other that much anymore since they went to university at the beginning of this schoolyear.

"The romance plotline wasn't great this time, though," Matt murmured with a frown.

Alex laughed at that. "Are they ever? I mean, romance is shit anyway."

Matt flashed him a grin. "Alright, settle. I know you don't like romance and that, but there are some good romance plotlines, even good romance movies."

"Who taught you that, eh? _Breana_?” Alex teased. “Y’only like em because yer too busy snogging 'er to pay attention to the film."

"Very funny, Al" Matt stuttered with a blush when his friend mentioned his girlfriend. "I've seen those movies, they're not as bad as ye think."

“I’ve seen them, too,” Alex protested. “I just choose not to believe shit like tha’.”

Matt stopped and shook his head with a laugh. Alex looked at him, confused as he took a drag from his cigarette.

“‘t is it then, Helders?”

“‘s joost...” Matt began, catching up with Alex while he buttoned his coat up further. “...for someone who writes poetry and stories, you’d think you’d be more the romantic type.”

Alex huffed. “There’s _loads_ of other things to write about that dun’t involve… Meeting someone in some cliché scenario... and looking in their eyes and immediately feeling yer hands getting warm, feeling yer heart beat faster” -- dramatically he put his hand over his heart -- “ and thinking ‘Where ‘ave you been all my life?’.” He put the back of his hand against his head, acting like he fainted.

Matt threw his head back with a laugh. “Okay, like what then? What do you write about?”

“Loads of things,” Alex shrugged. “Stars. Oceans. Sunsets an’ sunris--”

“Yeah, yeah,” Matt waved it away. “I get it, yeah? Loads of things. Nature stu-- Alex?”

Matt turned his head when he noticed the other wasn’t walking by his side anymore. When his eyes found Alex, he saw the boy with his nose pressed against the window of a bookstore.

“Al?”

Alex looked up. “Yeah?”

“Do ye wanna go in?”

“I saw… Yeah, I s’pose... Wanna come with me?” He stuttered, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder towards the bookstore. He took one last drag of his cigarette before he threw it on the ground and stumped it with his boot.

“‘ve gotta go, actually. Got eh… got some stuff to do for school,” Matt explained. “‘sides, bookstores are more your thing than mine... but then again, so is homework.”

“Helders…”

“‘m kidding. Go without me, yeah? That way you can hang out as long as you want.”

Alex rolled his eyes at that, but secretly, he was quite excited to do some book shopping on his own. It had been too long since he’d been in the bookstore, and on his own he could stay without getting nervous that Matt wanted to leave. On top of that, he’d just gotten his paycheck from his -- shitty -- job at the coffee corner on campus.

“Alrigh',” he nodded at Matt. “See ye soon then?”

“‘course, Al.”

The boys waved goodbye, Alex standing in the doorway of the store as Matt almost turned the corner.

“Oh an' Matt?” Alex said, before stepping inside. “Say ‘hi’ to Breana from me?”

Matt blushed, realizing his cover was blown. “I eh.. Yes, will do. Bye, Al.” Quickly he turned around the corner.

Alex chuckled to himself, shaking his head as he stepped into the bookstore.

When he looked up, a warm feeling crept up on him. Never was he quite as happy and at peace as when he was in the bookstore. The books made him happy, the smell made him happy, hell, even the people in the store made him happy. Something he didn’t always feel from people...

He took a deep breath, before he marched towards the ‘poetry’ section, and let himself get mesmerized by new -- and old -- titles. He opened one book, and flipped through the pages, only to close it again and read the back. With a frown he tried to read the incredibly small font on the back, until his concentration was broken by a short “’lo!”

Alex’s head snapped up and immediately his lips curled in a smile.

“‘lo, mrs. Howling. How are you?”

Mrs. Howling owned the bookstore, and was a friend of Alex’s mum. She often recommended him certain titles, and knew exactly what Alex liked. Something Alex was rather grateful for. As a result of that, most of his bookshelf was filled with recommendations from her.

“ _Alexander!_ ” She sang, creases forming by her eyes as she gave him a warm smile. “How good to see you! I feel like I haven’t seen you here in ages, love! I’m good, I’m good. How are you?”

“Good. Busy with school and that, but it’s good.” He assured her.

“University, I suppose?”

Alex gave her a small nod. “English.”

“Oh, what else did I expect?” She giggled.

She reached a hand out to him, and for a moment, Alex was afraid she was gonna pinch his cheek, luckily she refrained from that, and instead gripped his shoulder and gave him a mysterious look over her reading glasses.

“Between you an’ me,” she whispered. “I kept some books behind, for you. Some poetry you might like, few short stories.”

Alex smiled at her. “Thank you, mrs. Howling. Can I see them?”

She nodded, pulled at his shoulder and pushed him out in front of her. She lead him to the counter and bent down, retrieving a box from under there.

“‘ere ya go.”

Alex’s eyes fell upon title after title. There must be about twenty books in there. He looked at all of them; opened them all, read all the backs, flipped the pages, stroked the spines softly. He didn’t know exactly how much time had passed, but he didn’t mind. He stacked six books on top of the counter, admiring his selection as he retrieved his wallet from the pocket of his coat.

“Found something you like, I see,” mrs. Howling commented fondly as she scanned the barcodes on the backs of the books.

“It's rare that you pick something I don’t like,” Alex smiled.

He paid while she put his books in a plastic bag. They said their goodbyes after Alex promised her to try to swing by more often _and_ greet his mum from her.

With a smile he walked towards the exit, opening the door with his elbow as he looked down in his bag, content with his new belongings. He stepped out the door, turned the corner and -- “Ah, shit!” -- fell flat on his face after bumping into something.

His books lay showered over the pavement, and he groaned as he got up on his knees and reached for one book that lay close to him.

“Oh, god, I’m _so_ sorry!” A voice piped up. “Oh, look at all yer books... ‘m so sorry!” Alex looked up to the source of the sound.

 _A boy_.

He sat on his knees as well, right in front of Alex, as he grabbed one of his books. The boy looked up and brushed some of his brown hair out of his face. Alex’s breath caught in his throat when his eyes met the hazel ones of the stranger in front of him, feeling like he couldn’t look away. They stared at each other for a while before he broke out in a sweat, finally able to break eye contact as his clammy hands grabbed another book.

“‘s okay,” he said softly, his heart hammering in his chest.

“No!” The boy exclaimed. “I didn’t watch where I was walking… and now look,” he whispered, lifting one of Alex’s books from a puddle, the pages dripping.

Alex kept quiet, unsure of what to say. They stayed quiet for a while, simply collecting Alex’s books, putting them back in the plastic bag.

“I hope you’re not too mad at me,” the boy whispered softly, afraid to look Alex in the eye.

“Listen, it were an honest mistake, yeah? It’s okay.”

The boy sighed in relief. “Still, I want to make it up to you.” He pointed in the direction of a coffee corner. “You like coffee?”

“You really don’t have t--”

“Oh, _come on_. ‘s the least I can do!”

Alex stared at the ground. “Alright then, if you insist.” He brought his head up, swiped his hand over his jeans and offered the boy his hand. “‘m Alex.” The boy gave him a warm smile as he grabbed onto Alex’s hand tightly.

“ _Miles._ ”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. Please let me know what you thought. You can also find me on [Tumblr](http://horrormoviesshoes.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
